Bloodline
by neenana7
Summary: Syn has always wanted to be free; running away from her home, from her past, she only wants to look forward to the future. She didn't expect to start over in the underground, though. Even less with Mr. grumpy pants Levi. {Levi X OC} Book I
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Shingeki No Kyojin doesn't belong to me. The OCs, though, do.**

 **Welcome! If you're reading this story, i'd like to give some warnings before you move on. There will be spoilers of the manga and the anime, obviously. The storyline will change a bit, but not too much. It begins in the year 840, ten years before the events that start the manga.**

[...]

Prologue

"Our wills and fates do so contrary run, that our devices still are overthrown; our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own."

William Shakespeare

[…]

 _Year 840_

[…]

It was a nice, warm afternoon and the sun was slowly going down, coloring the sky of shades of pink, orange and purple. It was a truly beautiful sight to behold, and if she could, she would stare at it for as long as it went. Her long, silky hair was spread around her head, falling onto the green grass, and her arms were wide open. She looked weird, she knew it. If anyone passed by and saw her lying there, they might think she had finally gone crazy. She didn't care, though. It was her moment, right there, staring at the darkening sky.

The silent tears falling together with rays of sun didn't mean she was sad, quite the opposite, actually. She was crying of happiness. At some point, a giggle even escaped her lips, and she clapped her mouth shut as if the sound would show her position when she didn't want to be found.

 _"_ _It's the girl, the oldest."_ She had heard someone say when she was passing by the corridor earlier that day. _"As you may imagine, everyone expected his daughter, not the niece. But what can we do? At least they're the same bloodline."_

 _"_ _Oh, for Ymir! I imagine how she is feeling right now. He had such expectations for her."_

 _"_ _Well, it is not happening. Not anymore."_

Never once did she actually stop to listen fully. Oh, no. It wasn't like her to do something like that – so rude, so impolite. She kept on walking, her head high and proud, as always, not a signal that she had heard anything showing on her face. She walked, and walked, until she had finally left the confinement of her home; then, she run. She didn't know why, but suddenly her whole body felt like it was alive. She was like a candle that had been long off lit into fire again. Her flame burned, and it burned high.

Her feet carried her in the direction of her favorite place in her family property. It was an open field, surrounded with pine trees and a wide variety of wild flowers; she went all the way to the middle, throwing her body there and rolling around, giggling and crying.

 _I'm free._


	2. Chapter I

**A/N: Hey for those reading this story!**

 **I decided to edit the story because I realized it would be too big if I separated the chapters the way I was doing; so i decided to put them together in one big chapter, i hope you don't mind! It's the same thing, though.**

[…]

I

Year 841

The cold wind was blowing, making her hug her arms around her body to try and get warmer. The back cloak she was wearing was big for her small frame, and it felt like a blanket, so she clung to it as hard as she could. Inside the carriage was all dark being only illuminated with the light of the moon, and she was starting to doze off a bit with the bumping movement of the wheels against the pavement. The excruciating silence didn't help either.

Peeking through the small, battered curtain protecting the carriage, and her identity, of any unwelcome curious looks, she saw the lack of movement in the city at that time of the night. People were probably sleeping at their warm, cozy homes right at that moment, whilst she was sneaking away as a fugitive – which she indeed was -, freezing to the bones and barely awake. Her companion, an old man with no teeth in his mouth and a dark sense of humor, didn't help her cause much, for he had remained silent through most of the journey. Not that she really wished to talk to the man; after all, she still was making her mind about her not-so-brilliant idea of taking a ride with an unknown man like that.

 _It wasn't as if I had a choice, anyway_ , she thought to herself, sighing softly. It was either him or him; no options allowed. _I just hope he doesn't kill me and leave the body somewhere._

She clutched the cloak even tighter around her, biting her lip. On her side, her few possessions sat – she had only brought another dress, a pair of pants, three shirts and three pairs of undergarments, which were important to bring if she intended to start over her life. She had also brought another pair of stockings, but that was it. Besides clothing, there was a loaf of bread and some jerk beef she had managed to sneak away, together with a fine pot of tea she simply couldn't live without.

Never in her life had she had so little. She just hoped it was enough, at least to begin with.

The carriage finally stopped after ten minutes more or so, and her heart leaped in her chest with the anticipation of what would happen next. She took her satchel, waiting for the man to open the door, but he never did. She frowned, deciding to open it to see what was happening.

"Hey-" she started calling, but the man roughly interrupted her.

"It's the end here, miss." He said looking over his shoulder at her, the reigns of the horse still clutched by his huge hands.

She stared at him for a second before looking around, trying to identify where they were with no success. It was completely dark with not even the moonlight to guide her.

"Sorry but where are we?" she hesitantly asked, trying to see anything recognizable.

"In the underground, as promised."

Her eyes went wide. "What? The underground? What do you mean?"

He sighed impatiently, wanting to go away before someone appeared and robbed him, which was pretty common to happen in that area of the city.

"The underground city. It was what that man agreed with me."

"But-"

"Look, miss, I was paid to bring you here and give you this," he took something from his back pocket, handing it to her. "I have to go. It's dangerous here."

She shook her head in disbelief, desperation starting to build inside of her mind. "No, it's not right…"

"He said you should open the note. It'll help you." He then nodded his head, moving forward. "I wish you good luck."

"Wait-"

He didn't even look back, going forward fast and steady, and leaving her behind with her satchel and the note that was meant to help her somehow, though she couldn't even see it in the darkness. It was also silent, not even the sound of crickets could be heard; it was a complete nothingness.

"Shit," she muttered, blinking rapidly to try and make her vision adjust to the darkness. Thanks to Sina, soon she could figure out some things. She realized she was inside a tunnel, and there was a flight of stairs going down, to where she had no idea. Looking up, she saw the tunnel stretching out, and in the far end there was some sort of light that she imagined was the entrance.

Now, she had no idea what to do. Should she go to the entrance of the tunnel or down the stairs?

"Shit, shit, shit,"

She sighed loudly, clutching her cloak and moving her head to both directions; she thought about the options – if she went to the entrance, she probably would end up in Sina once again, and that wasn't her plan to begin with, though coming to the underground wasn't either. If she went down the stairs, it was most probable that she wouldn't be able to come back; it was known that once in the underground, if you didn't have the right documents that showed you were from the capital, you wouldn't be able to go back there. The military police and Nicholas Lobov, who was responsible for the trading business and the underground, were pretty strict about people leaving the city.

Her hands started shaking with the nervousness; then, she remembered that the coachman had given her a piece of paper that was meant to help her. Opening it, she squinted her eyes to try and read what was written there. She tried really hard with no success. It was far too dark to see anything, imagine read a note.

 _That's it_ , she thought, taking in a deep breath and turning around.

The flight of stairs seemed to go on for miles in her head. She took each step with caution, afraid of falling and of going down. At that moment, her heart was pounding so hard that it was ringing in her ears; her breath came in pants, and her legs and hands were shaking. With each step she took, the fear of the unknown, and what was saved for her ahead made her stomach into a knot. Soon, the tunnel was becoming less dark and silent; she could hear rumblings of people talking, and that only made her feel even more nervous. Finally, at the end of the tunnel there was a light.

 _So cliché,_ she rolled her eyes, taking in her last step and coming face to face with the underground city entrance. Contrary to the tunnel, the city wasn't dark – well, at least it wasn't as dark as the tunnel. There were lights all around illuminating it and keeping it dark at the same time; there were a lot of buildings and old constructions, as she could see, but what caught her attention was the group of heavily armed men standing there, chatting amongst themselves. She took hesitant steps in their direction, even if her mind was screaming for her to run. Gulping, she finally made herself seen.

"Mhm, excuse me," her voice faltered a bit, but it was enough to attract the men's attention.

They all turned at once to her, their weapons raised in her direction as if she was the most dangerous person in the world. She recoiled, taking one step behind, and what was her surprise to find there was a man right behind her, and he gripped her shoulders, making her jump with the privacy invasion.

"Where the hell did you come from?" one of them, a tall, bulky man with dark hair and small eyes barked at her.

She gulped hard, starting to fear for her life more than never. "I-I w-want to go in,"

"What? Did you leave clandestinely?" he frowned and took one step in her direction while the man behind her clutched her arms, as though she would start running at any moment.

"N-no," she answered right away, knowing pretty well that saying yes was not the best option. "I come from…Wall Rose. I'm here to visit a relative," her voice faltered again, which made the man's frown deepen.

"Who?"

"M-my cousin." He stared at her, and she felt her legs start to shake so much that if the man wasn't holding her, she would probably fall.

"Do you have the cash?"

She didn't think twice before nodding. "I do,"

She had come prepared for that; _he_ had told her that for her to survive, she would have to bring as much cash as she could – or at least valuable things. She took from her cloak three golden coins with Sina's face on it and handed it to the man. If she wasn't so nervous, she would have noticed the way his eyes shone with the amount of money she was handing him.

He nodded towards the man holding her, and soon he left her. She stumbled a bit, which made the men all laugh at her.

"You can go, princess." He opened his arms, smirking at her. Without thinking, she just walked right pass them, so fast that after seconds she was already far from them, though she could still hear them bragging about the amount of money they had received from her.

After walking without paying attention to where, she decided to stop. She was panting, and there was a cold sweat coming down her back. It was at that moment she realized that she had entered one of the most dangerous places on her country, and to make things better, she had no idea where she should go from there. Her eyes swept around, taking in her surroundings. She was on the middle of a street, but there were few people passing by. The ones who were didn't mind her; they walked slowly, their heads hanging low with a hopeless and empty look on their tired faces.

There were a varied number of constructions on both sides of the street, but they all looked closed and empty. Perhaps it was because of the time – it was around two in the morning, if she was not mistaken, and people were probably sleeping. Taking in a deep breath to sooth her nerves, she decided to take a look at the note once more. This time, she was able to read what was written there.

 _Seven street, 95. Levi._

An address. Nothing more, nothing less.

She kept staring at the terrible handwriting, not really knowing what she was supposed to do at that moment.

 _Maybe find that address would be a good idea_ , she thought, smashing the note in her closed fist. _Damn him! That wasn't the deal._

[…]

She walked around the underground city for hours, until her feet were sore and hurting. She had zero idea of where she had to go, or where that address was, and no one was able to help her. She had stopped a few strangers, but as soon as she started talking, they would just pass through her, as if she was invisible. After ten people, she got tired of doing the same thing and ended up walking around trying to find her way.

That place was very strange. The whole atmosphere was heavy, and it seemed there was a cloak of sadness and sorrow covering it. The people were very different from the ones she was used to in Mitras, were the population were the richest from all the walls. There were merchants, politicians, wealthy farmers, and business people, all very well dressed and soft spoken. In the underground, though, there were the poorest, and while walking there, she realized, with sadness, that people didn't even care if there were corpses on the street or if they were sleeping with rats.

The difference between realities was huge. She felt ashamed for having lived in Mitras her whole life, having all the best her family could provide, while people in the underground were dying of starvation and diseases. It was a reality shock, a slap on her noble, soft face. Now, she was as the people there; hopeless, wandering without knowing what to do with herself, or where to go.

Sighing for the hundredth time, it seemed, she turned around on a street and her eyes shone when she saw what looked like an open store. There were sounds coming from there, and the lights were on so that meant that there were people there. Running, she didn't think twice before going in. Indeed it was a store, but not just a store.

There were lots of men, and as soon as she closed the door behind her, the eyes turned to her, and she felt like a deer in the spotlight. Her hood was down, which left her whole face in the open for at least twenty men to stare at. Their eyes swept all over her body, and they started to whisper amongst themselves.

It dawned on her, then, what kind of business that was. She wanted to turn around and leave, but before she had the chance, a mid-aged lady appear right in front of her. She had dark blonde braided hair, blue eyes and a smile on her thin lips.

"Good evening, dear. How may I help you?" her voice was sweet, almost _too_ sweet. She gulped, realizing that maybe she had made a mistake entering that store.

"I-I'm looking for a place," she told the lady, blinking rapidly while she recited the address and the name she had memorized. "Seven street, 95. Levi. Can you tell me where this place is?"

The lady's blue eyes widened for a fraction, and her smile lost a bit of its vivacity.

"Oh, my, may I ask why you want to go to that place?"

"It's private," she snapped, feeling like it was the right thing to do. She didn't trust that lady, nor her smile, even less the amount of men looking at her like she was a piece of the most delicious meat being displayed on a fair.

"All right, I can help you," the woman never stop smiling when she took her hand between hers. They were calloused and harsh, much different from hers. "But you see, I have to refresh my memory as to where this place is; maybe you can help me?"

She blinked, understanding what the woman wanted. "I guess I can."

"Great! Come with me, then."

There was an alarm in her head telling her not to do that, but she decided to ignore it for the time being. She had been wandering around for hours, she was feeling tired and wanted nothing more than sleep a little, and for the first time someone agreed to help her – even if it came with a price tag to it. She followed the woman, passing through the men, who were still watching her, and entering a door at the back of the room. The woman opened the door and smiled suggestively, something that gave her the creeps. They entered another room, though it was smaller and quieter.

"So, I can see you aren't from around here," the woman motioned for a chair, and she sat down. "Do you come from the capital?"

Her eyes went wide, but she didn't confirm.

"Can you help me?" she asked in return, not trusting that woman in the slightest and deciding the best to do was leave that place as soon as she could.

"As I said, I can," she smiled again, showing her yellowed teeth. "Do you have something for me?"

Sighing, she took another coin from her cloak; this time, though, it was a silver coin, not a golden one. She decided she wouldn't be fooled like she had been in the entrance. The woman turned the coin between her fingers, bit it – she had no idea why, but it was disgusting -, before nodding in appreciation.

"Good. You're looking for Levi, huh? Is he something to you?"

She had no idea why, but she nodded. "A friend."

"Mmm," the woman hummed, her head shaking up and down. "Interesting. Well, he lives right next to the Pitch alley, his house is the one in the middle."

"And where's the Pitch alley?" she asked, not understanding a single thing the woman had told her.

"Oh, honey, you don't know?" she shook her head, though the answer was obvious. "It's a bit far from here, but I can draw a map, maybe?"

"Please, do."

The woman smiled again. "Well, you see, a map will cost another coin."

She wanted to groan, but decided against it. Nodding her head, she gave the woman another coin, and again she bit it.

She took a piece of old paper and drew something on it, a sort of map that was very difficult to understand, but she took it without complaints. At least now she had a place to go, not just the address and the name.

"Thanks."

"It was a pleasure doing business; if you ever need anything else, come here again, honey. I have some jobs if you're interested."

She only shook her head, turning around and leaving as fast as she could. Again passing through the room full of men, she felt their eyes on her back. She had never felt so nervous and anxious in her life; not even when she had to make an open speech, or sing in front of a room full of people had she felt like that. It was like there were eyes on her all the time, watching her, waiting to catch her. She used the map the woman had drawn, and thanks to Sina it wasn't as hard as she had imagined it would be.

In the end, she found the alley the woman had talked about, after walking for about forty minutes or so. It was a place surrounded with apartment buildings, with an open space right in the middle. She saw the one she was supposed to go to, in the middle of the others; the lights there were off, but that didn't stop her of going up the stairs and knocking on the door.

Perhaps, if she had given more thought to her actions, she wouldn't have been so brisk on knocking on someone's door in the middle of the night, right in the underground city. She didn't know who was living behind that door, she had no idea if they were good or bad, and soon she realized that.

However, the damage was already done, and after what felt like seconds, she heard footsteps inside the house. Her breath caught in her throat, and her hands started sweating and shaking again. A minute later, the door was opened.

They say that when you are about to meet you end, your whole life pass through your eyes and you have a sort of epiphany. That didn't happen to her, though, so that probably meant she wouldn't die that day. Probably. Maybe. She hoped so.

She stared at the face of the person who was now looking at her; it was a man – or a maybe a boy? -, about her height, maybe a little taller than her, and he had dark, straight hair with an undercut, a thin, sharp face, and gray eyes. He was handsome, she realized, and looked very young and old at the same time, if that was even possible. He was wearing black pants and a loose white shirt that made his chest show up a little.

They stood there staring at each other for some time; neither said anything, and the silence was uncomfortable and sharp. She felt like she had to say something, anything, but what?

 _"Hey, I'm Syn, and I was told to come here by this crazy, psycho man. Nice to meet you!"_

It surely wasn't going to go well. She blinked, moving her feet nervously, praying for Sina, Maria and Rose to help her at that moment. They heard her, for the one to break the silence was the man himself.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Perhaps it would have been better if he hadn't said anything at all.

[…]

"Who the fuck are you?" he asked, staring at her with what looked like boredom.

She gulped finally deciding now would be a good time to talk. "I'm Syn." She answered, her voice so weak and low that it was difficult to hear.

One of his eyebrows rose, but he remained silent. She decided to continue, then.

"Y-You don't know me." _That's obvious! Stop saying stupid things._ "I was told you could help me."

His face remained emotionless. "What?"

She handed in the note she had received earlier, her hands shaking so badly that it was impossible not to notice. And he did; once more his eyebrows rose, and he looked from the note to her face.

"This man, he told me you could help me here. I just needed to hand you this." It wasn't completely true, but maybe if she was convincing he would believe. He took the note, eyeing it with no emotion showing on his face.

After staring at the crumpled piece of paper, he stared back at her.

"Fuck off." Was all he said, closing the door right at her face without hesitation.

Syn stood there, her mouth hanging open in an "o" while she stared at the surface of the door. A minute passed before she processed what had just happened, and she knocked on the door again, outraged by his rudeness. This time, she used a bit more force than necessary.

"Hey, please open up! I need help! Come on!" she continued pounding her fist on the door over and over again until he opened it up once more. He didn't look happy in the slightest, though.

"I told you to fuck off. I can't help you, I don't even know you, bitch. Get out!" he yelled right at her face, and it made her recoil a little with fear. However, it wasn't her intention to back down. She needed him.

He was the only thing that she had at the moment to guide her. If she turned around and went away, where would she even go? She had money, yes, but for how long? Besides the fact the underground was a dangerous place, so she would just end up being robbed or even worse, she had a limited amount of money with her. She couldn't have taken more, for the money her family had was safely guarded, and the only coins she had brought had come from the jewelry she had sold. Thus, she needed to find a place to live, a job, any sort of income so she wouldn't die of starvation. And the only person who could help her was this guy who was looking at her as if she had two heads over her shoulders.

"Please, you have to help me. I have nowhere to go, I don't even know the underground. Please!" she begged, not even caring if it made her look ridiculous. She wasn't a proud person normally, and at that moment she was so desperate that she was ready to do anything just to have a roof over her head.

"It's not my fucking problem. I don't know you," he snapped, getting more and more irritated by her insistence.

"I know but-"

"No buts! Get the hell out of here or I'll make you." He was going to close the door again, but this time she was smarter and put her foot on it, stopping it from closing.

"Look, Kenny told me you could help, so please recon-"

"Kenny?" he stopped pushing the door and repeated the name, his brow twitching for a moment. Syn realized, then, that she should have told him the name sooner, after all, Kenny was the one responsible for that whole situation to begin with.

"Yes, he told me to come here. He said you'd help me," She explained, once again stretching the truth.

He stood there in silence again, probably munching over the new piece of information. Syn hoped to the goddesses that he would change his mind, but of course life wasn't going to go easy on her.

"Well, you can tell him to fuck off, too. I don't do charity," and, for the last time that night, he closed the door.

When Syn was younger, she would always have anything she wanted right away. If she wanted to eat pudding for dinner, she would have it; if she wanted to sleep in the garden to watch the stars, they would make a camping site for her there; if she wanted to have a horse colored with all the colors of the rainbow, someone would give it to her. She only needed to ask, bat her eyelashes or pout and she would have it. For that reason, it was unnecessary to say that she didn't deal well with unanswered desires, and that she ended up being a pretty spoiled young adult. Well, if she had learned how to cope with frustration and not having whatever she wanted at any time, she would have dealt with that situation much better than she did.

She kicked the door in anger, tears already starting to fill her blue eyes, and she wanted to scream at that asshole's face for not helping her when she needed it. She let herself fall on the ground, the tears running freely on her face now; thank goodness there weren't people walking around to see her crying like a baby on the ground. Inside the house, she heard some movement, but Levi didn't come back.

She cried for some time, but eventually she noticed that that wouldn't help her. Her head was pounding because of all the emotions and crying, and she felt sleepy. Soon enough, with her back against Levi's door, she dozed off.

[…]

 _It had all started with the sweets; Elisa had given her the package and told her not to tell anyone, but she couldn't keep her mouth shut when she saw her cousin. As usual, Frey was playing with her dolls in the playing room, and as soon as she saw her coming in, she ran in her direction._

 _"Sy, do you wanna play with me?" she eagerly asked, and Sy couldn't say no to her. She loved her cousin like a sister, so patting her head, she nodded._

 _"Yes, but I can't stay long, I have piano lessons later."_

 _"Okay,"_

 _They played for a very long time, pretending their dolls were warriors from another realm. Suddenly, she remembered the sweets inside the pocket of her dress._

 _"Look what I have, Frey." She showed it off to her cousin, and the girl's blue eyes, the same color as her own, shone._

 _"Give me one,"_

 _The sweets were really good; they ate many, so many that during lunch they were too full to eat food, and that was when her mother realized that she had eaten sweets before eating real food._

 _"You can't eat sweets before lunch, Sy, you know it." The woman told her, shaking her head._

 _"Sorry, ma. I won't do it again," she said, slightly pouting in a way she knew made her mother's heart swell._

 _"That's okay." Her mother kissed her head, and Sy was happy about it. She loved her mother's kisses. "Now, you have to wake up and find you way. Remember? You're free to go now."_

"Oi, wake the fuck up!"

Syn's eyes snapped open when the surface where she was lying on gave in and her body fell backwards onto the cold stone floor. Her head hit the floor, making a loud noise that echoed through the silent morning – or was it still dawn? She had no idea. It was still dark in the underground, and there was nothing that showed if it was morning or night.

Above her, not looking very happy about the fact that she was lying on his floor was Levi. As soon as she saw him, she sat up.

"Hey, did you change your mind about helping me?" she asked hopefully, her eyes bright with sleep and anxiety. She looked like a mess with her face tear streaked, pale lips and hair all over the place. He scoffed, rolling his gray eyes.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he shook his head, and before she had a chance to speak again, he pushed her forward with his feet like she was a rock blocking his way. "You're on my way."

Finally, she stood up completely, coming face to face with that man that refused to help a person in need. Her back ached for the terrible position she had slept in, but she didn't show it.

"Please reconsider. I have nowhere else to go. Please!" again she started begging, much to his displeasure.

"It's not my problem." He walked past her, closing the door to his home and going down the flight of stairs; she stood there, not knowing what to do with herself. Again, desperation started building in the back of her mind.

"Listen, I have money! I can pay you. Please! I just need a place to stay for some time." She went down the stairs after him, running to catch up – he was really fast for his height.

"I don't want your money," he retorted, not even looking back at her.

"I can do shores. Cleaning, cooking, whatever you want."

"I can do that myself, brat."

"I know how to knit, to dance, to play the piano, whatever you want I can do it! Please, help me!" he sighed loudly, not even sparing her another glance. He continued walking, and she continued following him. "Look, I have jewelry. _Expensive_ jewelry;" she offered, even if she didn't want to give him more than she should for a place to stay. "I'm useful, I can help you."

"As I said," he turned to look at her, emotionless. "I don't need any of this shit. Fuck. Off."

She stopped walking, frustrated and angry with that terrible little man! In a moment of outraged impetus, she took off one of her shoes and threw it on his head; the sandal hit the back of his head and fell on the floor with a _thud_. It took three seconds for her to realize her mistake, and it was too late.

Levi slowly turned around, and instead of his emotionless face, she was faced with a very angry expression. His brow was creased and his eyes were so dark that they could have been mistaken for black. Syn swallowed tickly, taking one shoeless step behind, trembling all over.

"Do you have a death wish?" his question made the hairs on the back of her neck stand. She blinked rapidly, feeling her heart pounding madly in her chest and her legs started shaking.

"I-I'm sorry, I s-shouldn't have done that," she stammered, taking another step behind. He glared at her, _hard_ , and if looks could kill, Syn would have been dead right at that moment.

"You fucking pigs from the capital," he bit, taking one step in her direction. "You think you own the fucking world, don't you?" he took another step, and she took two behind. "I have some news for you, bitch, you _don't!_ Now get the hell away from my face before I fucking show you how _we_ do things down here."

With that, he turned around and walked off, leaving Syn there, flabbergasted and almost pissing herself. Minutes passed by and she continued there, trembling from head to toes. She felt stupid; she shouldn't have done what she did. Levi had no obligation whatsoever to help her, and he had been right. She realized how arrogant she had seemed, throwing a shoe at his head only because he refused to help her – a complete stranger. Feeling worse than shit, she went forward and took her shoe, putting it on again before turning around and going back to his house. She climbed the flight of stairs and sat down again, hugging her body with the cloak.

What would she do? Now Levi would be less willing to help her than before, and she didn't blame him. If she was on his shoes, she would probably react the same way. Putting her head over her bent knees, she started thinking about how she would live her life from there on.

Her stomach started grumbling, and she took a piece of bread from her satchel, munching over it thoughtfully. She had about a hundred pieces of golden coin, safely tucked inside her pants in case someone tried robbing her, fifty silver and a bunch of bronze ones; she had no idea how expensive things were in the underground, but she imagined it must have been very; everything came from the capital, all the food and other goods, brought down there by merchants and smuggling. She knew that because of her economy and political classes; her teacher, Mrs. Heisenberg, told her about everything that made the money move in the country. From the farms on Wall Rose and Maria, the small markets responsible for a good part of the exchanges, to the huge factories responsible for weapons, and pretty much all the storage from Sina.

Once her teacher had mentioned the underground, a place not mentioned very often in the conversations of the noble people, and the fact that many merchants – mostly corrupt ones – would go there to sell their goods with the highest prices. Things like good food, medicine, clothing were all expensive down there because of the lack of market. Then, the rich people took advantage of the poorest in the kingdom, and fattened their bellies with money coming from desperation.

Now that she wasn't in Mitras anymore, she would feel exactly what it was like to live in such conditions; she wondered how she could find a job there, too. Were there regular jobs like waitressing, or was it only like the one from that place she had been the day before, where women sold their bodies?

She didn't want to do that, and couldn't even imagine how it would feel like. She was pretty much a virgin, after all she never married, and she had always dreamed of losing it with someone she loved and cared about. Of course she also realized that she would probably have to marry for convenience, so this romantic notion served for nothing. However, she wasn't so hopeless that she thought about doing something like that.

Shaking her head, she bit another piece of the bread.

Maybe she could open her own business? She did know to knit; maybe she could make some clothes and sell them? But how would she find the fabric? And she would have to rent a place to open it; was it something they did in the underground? Or could she just take one of the empty buildings and claim as hers like the kings of old used to do?

Damn, she was lost. She felt like crying again. Perhaps all that had been a bad idea; she shouldn't have run away from her home. She shouldn't have made that damn deal with Kenny of all people. What did she expect? The man wasn't known for being the most honest person around. In fact, his reputation preceded him, and everyone knew about it. He had been a killer before becoming member of the Military Police. And he had come from the underground, too.

What about Levi? What was his relationship to that man? He seemed pretty moved when she mentioned Kenny's name; maybe they were family? Or acquaintances?

Was Levi a killer, too?

The thought sent another chill down her spine; if he was, would he kill her for what she had done? Shit, she was so stupid and reckless! How could she do something like that to a person she didn't even know? If he decided to kill her, no one would even know. She would be lost forever, without a trace.

She shook her head. No. If he was going to kill her, he would have already. After all, she slept right in front of his home, and he saw her doing it. What was easier than killing someone while sleeping? Unless he enjoyed seeing people suffering. But then he would have done it when she hit his head with the shoe.

It was a lot to think about. She should apologize more profusely. Perhaps give him something; money? A piece of jewelry? Food? She had no idea. Would he even accept? After what she did, it was probable that he wouldn't even look at her. Well, she should at least try.

[…]

The day passed by without Syn realizing; she spent the whole time sitting in front of Levi's door, waiting for him to come back so she could apologize, but he never did. Still, she didn't move, afraid of doing so and losing him. It was boring; soon she started to become restless, but there was nothing for her to do. There was a moment she felt the need to pee, and she had to find a way of doing it in a dark alley – it was the first time in her life that she had to pee somewhere that wasn't a bathroom. The entire time she watched out, afraid someone would appear and catch her doing it. No one did. It was surprisingly quiet in that part of the city, and only a few passersby appeared.

After peeing, she went back to Levi's door, and there she stood. She managed to fold all her clothes, eat another piece of bread, sing some of her favorite songs softly to herself, pick on her hair – which had some split ends that she hadn't noticed before. Eventually she dozed off with boredom, and it was at that moment that Levi reappeared. She was drooling when he kicked her foot, waking up with a startle.

"I told you to fuck off, brat." He said, visibly annoyed with her presence. She felt like a bug.

"Hey," she greeted, smiling despite the fact that he was looking at her as if she was a dirty old dog.

"Tsk," he clicked his tongue, opening his door and he was about to enter when she stopped him by grabbing the back of his shirt.

"Wait, please." She asked, standing up. He turned around, the same bored look from the day before on his face. She passed a hand over her clothes, seeing the mess the dress probably was after her sitting on it the whole day. "I'd like to apologize to you for my behavior; it was uncalled for, and I'm deeply ashamed by it."

One of his eyebrows rose. "What's with the formal tone?"

She frowned, not understanding what he meant. "Look, I really didn't want to have done that. So I want to give you something to show my regret," she went to her satchel, feeling his eyes on her, and took off her beloved tea. "It's not much, but it's one of the best leaves in the kingdom. I hope you like it."

He took the package with interest, analyzing it briefly before turning back to her. She smiled expectantly, waiting for him to accept her apology.

"Mmpt," he turned around with the tea and opened the door to his home. He entered without glancing back and closed the door on her face again.

Syn stood there, feeling so many things at the same time that she was only able to sigh. She sat down again, closing her eyes and thinking about all the happy time she had on her seventeen years living on that earth. She was thirsty, now that she started thinking about the tea she had given to Levi. Gosh, why was everything so difficult? Damn Kenny!

[…]

Three days. Three goddamn days. That was the amount of time Syn spent in the underground, outside Levi's house; at that point, she was tired beyond saying, looking all dirty and smelly, after not showering for three entire days! – that was the longest she went without a bath, since she took baths every day before. Her food, too, was starting to end, and now the only thing she had were some pieces of jerk beef and an already old apple. The worst of all, though, was her thirst. Three days and only twice she drank water, and it had been from a small pond on the freaking floor. It was sewer water, she knew, and the first sip she took made her almost throw up. She could have gone around to try and find a store or a restaurant, but she was too afraid of roaming in the underground with her money.

Her head was aching due to lack of proper food, of water, of sleep, of everything. She wanted to lay down on a soft bed and sleep, take a shower, eat some hot soup, and forget that she spent three days in that hideous, forsaken place. She regretted leaving now; she didn't know what she had on her mind for doing something like that. She was going to die down there, alone, dirty, and no one would care.

Even her tears had dried at that moment; she had cried many times in the three days, but eventually she stopped. Also, crying only made her head hurt even more. As for Levi, every day he would go out, therefore every day he saw her there, and she would always ask for his help, which he simply ignored. He had made the tea she had given him, she smelt it from his home, and didn't even bother to offer. He was a bad man. A really, really bad man.

Syn had lost all hope that he was going to help her, and in the morning of the third day, when he opened the door to leave his home, she just stared at him. She didn't ask for help; she didn't say good morning, like she had done before. Her bright, blue eyes only looked at him, heavy bags shading them. She looked terrible, she knew it. And the look he gave her – of disgust -, made her want to punch right through his face.

"Still here?" he asked, one of his eyebrows rising.

"Barely," she muttered, lowering her eyes. She heard him sigh loudly, before stepping over her legs, which were spread in front of her – so unlady like -, and going down the stairs like he usually did.

She watched his back, wishing she could inflict pain in him with her vision. Soon, he disappeared in the alley, and she was left alone yet again.

Sighing, she closed her eyes, thinking about sleeping some more – at least she didn't feel hungry or thirsty if she slept. It was during her dozing off that a thought occurred to her. She opened her eyes, the idea swirling around her mind in a dangerous haze.

Her eyes slowly darted towards the door in which she had been standing in front of for days; it was closed, but it wasn't locked. She was sure of it, for she had seen Levi leave his home several times now and not once did he close it with a key. Tentatively, looking around her to make sure she was alone, which she was, she tried to push the door open. What was her surprise when it cracked and slowly opened, giving her the partial vision of Levi's living room. Her heart started pounding loudly in her chest, and adrenaline punched through her veins.

That was it! She could go in, do whatever she wanted, and then leave, Levi would never even know. She knew he wouldn't come home until late, thus she had all the time in the world. Well, after three days, hope made her stand up excitedly. She didn't hesitate. Maybe it was the fact that she was dirty, desperate to take a bath, to drink proper water, which made her break into someone's house like that. She didn't care, though. As soon as she could, and with another look around to make sure no one was watching, she entered the house and closed the door behind her.

The house was tidy, organized and spotless clean. There was a single green couch with a coffee table in front of it, a small, round wooden table with two chairs, a cabinet, and a long sink, which was the first place she darted towards; she opened the faucet and put her face under the water, drinking as much as she could take, humming in pleasure. Gosh, how people took thinks for granted. There she was, almost crying in emotion because she was finally able to drink water.

After drinking enough water to floor her insides, she turned the faucet off and looked around, deciding what would be her next course of action. She didn't want to mess with his food, or with anything, really, so she didn't touch the cabinet. However, she did think it would be nice to take a bath, so she went about the house trying to find the bathroom. It wasn't that difficult, since the house wasn't that big. On the corridor, there were three doors, and she went on opening each of them to try and find the correct one. She was sure of them was the bathroom.

The first one she opened was a bedroom, with a double bed in the middle and a wardrobe. As the rest of the house, it was pretty tidy, but she didn't linger – besides her obvious dislike for Levi, she didn't want to intrude more than she already was. The next door was an empty room, there were only a couple of boxes spread around, and that was it. The last door on the corridor was the bathroom, and she almost squealed in delight when she saw the shower and an actual toilet. She didn't think twice, which she should have, but at the moment, she did what her mind was telling her to.

She striped her clothes, taking off the dress she had been wearing, her undergarments, her stockings and finally climbing under the shower. The water was freezing, and she almost embraced it. There was a bar of soup that was scentless, and she used it without a care in the world.

Never had a shower felt so good. She stood there for at least twenty minutes, washing everything twice – she had a bit of a cleaning habit, and not being able to shower was driving her crazy. Finally, she turned off the water and dried herself off with her cloak. There was mirror, and she turned to watch herself; she surely looked tired, but now she was clean, and she looked cute again. Her long, blonde, wavy hair fell down her back, dripping wet, framing her heart shaped face and matching her blue eyes. She was what people called a true beauty, and everything on her was in perfect harmony – from her straight, small nose to her full pink lips, her curvy body – she had medium sized breasts, wide hips, which was perfect for having babies. Her mother had been chosen for her body, and Syn's were just like hers. Her face, though, was all her father with her light complexion.

She wasn't a vain woman; for her, being beautiful was a fact, something as natural as breathing, so she didn't really mind it. She had heard people commenting on it frequently, and as it would do to most people, it boosted her ego, too. However, the fact that she was beautiful made people judge her too soon. She didn't know where it came from, but usually people thought that looks and intelligence was no match – it was either one or the other. Syn was very intelligent, though, and she enjoyed studying and reading as frequently as she enjoyed combing her hair.

She dried off the waves, passing her fingers through them to untangle the locks. Then, when she was satisfied with her work, she started getting dressed. Instead of an uncomfortable dress, she opted for the pair of pants and a shirt; it was easier to move on them. After that, she turned to open the door and leave, collecting everything and drying the floor.

As soon as she left the bathroom, she came face to face with no one other than Levi himself. He was standing in the corridor, leaning on the wall, arms crossed over his chest, and face emotionless like always. Syn squealed, frightened by the sudden appearance of he who should have been gone for hours.

 _Shit!_ , she mentally yelled, taking several steps backwards, feeling as if her death had finally arrived.

"Enjoying yourself?" his voice was sharp as a knife, and it made her heart beat wildly in her chest.

She took in a sharp breath, biting her lip hard. She didn't know what to say. _Sorry for breaking into your house?_ Was she even sorry? After all, she was enjoying herself minutes ago, under his shower. Levi kept staring at her, and his gray eyes were unnerving.

"I-" she started, blushing from head to toe with embarrassment. The words died in her throat, and she was clueless about what to say. Then, she did the expected. "Sorry."

"Eh?" he raised an eyebrow, uncrossing his arms and going in her direction. "You break into my house and _sorry_ is the only thing you can come up with?" she took two steps backwards, hitting the wall and having no place to escape to.

Levi's expression didn't change; he didn't look particularly mad or angry at her, but then again he wasn't one to display many emotions – the only time she had seen him pissed off was when she insisted on knocking on his door and when she threw the shoe on his head. He stood right in front of her, looking down to her and making her feel like a lamb facing a big, scary wolf.

"I- I had to go to the bathroom." She tried explaining, which only made him roll his eyes at her.

"I didn't know my bathroom was public."

She swallowed, averting her eyes to the ground. "I'm sorry, please don't kill me. I won't do it again, I promise." Her voice was wavering and her fear was showing off; she felt her legs shaking a bit when he raised his arm and put it right beside her head; Syn didn't dare look up.

"How would you like it to be? I'm thinking about slitting your throat and leaving you to bleed. What do you think?" his voice was low and menacing, and when his words clicked in her mind she felt her eyes water.

"Please," she pleaded, looking up at him with blue eyes full of tears. "I'm too young to die; don't kill me, please! I do whatever you want,"

He smirked, bringing his hand closer to her face and touching her cheek; she flinched away, tears running freely down her face. "Anything I want?" he asked suggestively, and her head snapped to look at him.

 _Oh, no. No, no, no._ She chanted in her head, recoiling even more from him.

"No, I won't do _that_." It was surprising how firm her voice sounded even if she was shaking in fear. Levi noticed it, too, and his eyes sparkled with interest.

"Mm, well, that's the only option I'm thinking of. Would you rather die?" again his finger touched the side of her face, and she slapped it away with force.

"Yes, you damn asshole! I'd rather die!"

They glared at each other for a long time, until Levi nodded. "Fine. As you wish,"

She closed her eyes, not really wanting to see what he would do to her. She only hoped it would be fast and painless. All her life, Syn had feared death; she didn't know why, maybe it was the "curse" of her family, or the fact that everyone would eventually meet their end, but for her death was a shadow that always lurked around people, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. It could be at any time; she once had heard some servants talking about a lady who had died eating soup – a piece of meat had gone to the wrong place, and she died without being able to breath. She remembered how she had been shocked by that. She was about ten, and hearing that someone could die eating soup made her afraid of the food for a long time. She would always ask a servant to cut the meat into tiny pieces, and if they were too big, she would chew on it for a very long time.

It was a stupidity, she knew it. Death would come to anyone, and it was impossible to prevent it. She could chew all the meat, and die climbing down the stairs; now, never had she imagined that she would die in the underground, by the hands of the man that was supposed to help her somehow. She was really unlucky. How come the one time she is finally free she ends up in a place and three days later dies?

She felt some movement, and her heart pounded loudly.

That was it. She was going to die.

"Oi, brat, open your damn eyes."

"No, I don't want to see it." She said, shaking her head.

"Tsk, are you fucking kidding me? I'm not killing you,"

Her eyes snapped open, and she realized that he had stepped away from her and was now staring at her with boredom.

"B-but,"

"What? I was just fooling you, idiot." He turned around and walked towards his living room, leaving her there, astonished. She heard the sound of a chair being pulled, and then silence.

She went in that same direction, grabbing all her things on the way. Levi was sitting at his table, a pocket knife on one hand a handkerchief on another. Syn stood there, watching him cleaning the object as if he didn't have a single care in the world.

"Are you going to stand there like a creep?" he asked, not taking his eyes off of the knife on his hands. Syn frowned, not really knowing what do to.

"I really thought you were going to kill me," She said quietly, clutching her cloak – which now was all wet from the shower she had taken – on her hands, trying to ease off some of the nervousness she was feeling.

He briefly looked back at her, before sighing. "I don't kill women," though it was a strange sentence, she felt relieved.

Slowly she walked towards the table, pulling out one of the chairs and sitting down. Surprisingly enough Levi didn't mention it, and continued to clean his knife. They stood there in complete silence, and the only thing possible to hear was the sound of their breathing. It was unnerving and a bit uncomfortable, but it was better than him trying to kill her.

"Listen," Syn broke the silence, wetting her lips before continuing. "I'm sorry for breaking into your home. I shouldn't have done that. I-I was really needing the bathroom…"

Levi quirked one eyebrow, looking at her. "And you thought that would be a good idea?" she nodded, ashamed. He scoffed, shaking his head. "If you're going to live in the underground, first thing you gotta learn is to not enter a random person's house. There are some pretty shady people here."

"I agree." She nodded, biting her lip. "So, did you change your mind?"

"About what?"

She took in a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. That was it. She was going for it again. "Letting me live here with you."

"Tsk, I already told you-"

"Please, reconsider!" she interrupted before he turned her down again. "As you may have seen, I have no place to go. I have money; I can pay for my stay here. I can work for you, as I told you, I can clean your house, cook, knit, whatever you wish. I know how to sing, to dance, I'm very useful, so please-"

"Fine, brat. Don't need a fucking curriculum."

Her eyes widened, and her heart pounded faster. "What?"

He rolled his eyes. "You can stay."

Syn squealed in delight, jumping up and down. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she said over and over, barely containing the excitement. After three days, he had finally agreed to help her.

 _Thanks Sina, Maria and Rose! Thanks, Ymir!_ She thought, smiling brightly.

Levi looked at her, jumping and squealing as if he had just told her that unicorns were real. "You'll have to work, though. I like my house cleaned spotless, not even a grain of dust. If you do it wrong, I'll kick you out, hear that, brat?"

"Yes, yes! I understand!" she said, not even paying attention to what he was saying.

"And you'd better be quiet, I don't like noise."

"Okay!"

"And never leave you stuff lying around. I'll kick you out if you do."

"Agreed!"

"Tsk," he clicked his tongue, going back to his work on his knife.

Meanwhile, Syn smiled from ear to ear, happy that she wouldn't have to sleep once more outside. Finally things were starting to work out for her.


	3. Chapter II

[…]

2

They say that there isn't a bad situation that can't become worse. It had all started when she, Syn, decided that making a pact with the devil would be a good idea. She had paid her share, and Kenny promised her freedom, which she now had; however, at what cost? She was living with Levi, a thug from the underground who, after a lot of insistence – and her breaking into his home -, agreed to let her live in his place. At that moment, when he finally said "yes" after three days of her sleeping outside his house, Syn felt bliss; true, genuine bliss.

On the back of her mind, the only thing she was thinking was that she would have a place to sleep, unpolluted water, and a bathroom to shower. She never once thought about the fact that she was doing a pact with another devil. Well, after one week with Levi breathing down her neck, she already wanted to run away to another place. It wasn't that she felt ungrateful towards the man, after all he helped her without asking much and despite the fact she was a complete stranger. However, the little man – who was still taller than her, for her disgrace -, had a very unique way of pestering people.

It all started the second she asked him where she would sleep. He looked at her with those gray, empty eyes and said, "You can sleep on the floor,"

She stared dumbly at him, not really processing what he had just said. A minute later, she finally caught up.

"What? But there's a couch there," she motioned for the green couch, which was big enough for her small frame to sleep in a very comfortable position.

"The couch isn't a place to sleep." He told her, stroking his damn knife like it was a dog he was petting. "Didn't you have one in the little palace you come from?" and he had the audacity of being ironic.

"Of course we did but-"

"Did you use it to sleep?"

"No, bu-"

"So no sleeping on the couch,"

He didn't change his mind; so yes, Syn had to sleep on the floor of one of the spare rooms in the house. She didn't fight him, deciding it would be better to keep it cool for the moment, so he wouldn't kick her out again. The next day, though, when she woke up with a strained neck and her back stiff as a floorboard, she decided that wouldn't do. She went to the living room, where Levi was already drinking her precious tea and ready for another day, and decided to confront him. He looked at her through his mug, though, and she could swear she saw a little smirk there.

"Slept well?" he asked, making her heart pound with the rush of angriness that came to her.

 _How dare you?_ She thought, imagining her fist connecting with his perfect stoic face. She didn't do anything, though. Only smiled the best she could, which at that moment came up as a grimace, and sat down next to him.

"You floor is gracious," she complimented, extending her hand towards the pot of fresh, hot tea. Levi didn't think twice before slapping her hand away. "What?" she brought her hand to her chest, rubbing on it.

"That's my tea. If you want some, you buy some."

Her mouth fell open. "But I gave this tea to you!"

"Exactly. It belongs to me now. Hands off,"

She was indignant, not believing he would be so petty like that. "Can't you share?"

"No."

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, again Syn smiled. "Fine." She went to the sink and took a cup of water, clinging to it to prevent her foot of hitting the back of his head.

He continued drinking his tea as if he was the king of the world while she glared at him; he had a weird way of grabbing the mug, holding it by the brim instead of the handle, like a normal person would do. Soon enough, he stood up and turned around.

"Oi, what's with the glare?" one of his eyebrows rose when he stared at her, making her Syn bit her lip when she was caught in the middle of her "killer" look.

"I'm not glaring." She lied, taking a sip of water.

"Tch," he left his mug in the sink before turning around to her again. "I want the house clean spotless when I come back."

Then he went to the door, leaving Syn behind. "When are you coming back?"

"None of your fucking business."

As soon as he closed the door, she swore all the bad words she could think of, which she never used because they were very unlady like, but now she wasn't exactly a lady, so whatever. She was _mad_.

"That little asshole," she muttered under her breath, afraid that he was behind the door listening to her and as soon as he heard her, he would barge into the house and kick her out for good. "I hope you choke on the damn tea,"

Speaking of which, she eyed the tea-pot full of the sacred liquid she enjoyed so much drinking, and smiled mischievously. Levi wasn't there anymore, and the tea was just sitting there, still hot and basically calling her name. She drank almost everything, feeling the sweet flavor calm down her nerves. That was the best damn tea in the whole kingdom, and it was worth the risk of Levi finding out she had drank it.

After that, she put some water inside so he wouldn't figure out she had touched _her_ own tea, and decided to start her day. The first thing she did was go to her new bedroom – which didn't have a bed - to arrange some of her things. The previous day she had been so excited that she had forgotten to do that. The room was clean, but since Levi was annoying as hell with the cleanliness of his house she decided to clean it more. With a broom, a bucket full of water and an old cloth she started cleaning it the best she could.

Syn had never once cleaned anything in her life. She had had servants to do it back home, so she never had the need of doing anything of the sort. Only once she remembered arranging her mother's dressing table because she had done a mess with her jewelry and make up while playing dress up with it. It hadn't gone too well, and her mother eventually found out what she had been doing.

She had no idea where to start, but decided that the sweeping would be a good idea. There wasn't anything in the room besides a few boxes; she opened them up, curious to see what was inside, and was surprised when she saw a bunch of old things – books, some vases and other random objects. Shrugging, and a bit frustrated because she expected something more interesting inside them, she continued to arrange the things. It didn't take long before she finished. The room was well cleaned, in her opinion, but it was so empty that it felt wrong. She decided, then, that she would go find a bed and a wardrobe – she couldn't stand sleeping on the floor for too long either.

After she cleaned that room, she went to the rest of the house, starting in the bedrooms, bathroom and following until the kitchen and living room. She did the best she could, sweeping and cleaning the floor with the cloth until it was good for her. In the end, the house was clean and fresh. Syn felt pretty good about herself, and for the first time in years she felt like she was useful for something. It was around eleven in the morning when her stomach grumbled and she had no idea what to make to eat.

Another thing she had lied about was the fact that she could cook anything; she had never done anything remotely close to food in her old life, again because there were people that were paid to do that for her. Now she was completely clueless about how the process of making food went. She decided she would at least try, after all, how hard could it be?

"Ok, let's see what Mr. grumpy pants has to cook," she went to Levi's cabinet, opening it and seeing a few packages of food. There was a piece of old bread, which was as hard as a stone, some equally old potatoes and a few spices – or was it tea? She had no clue. Sighing, she decided to try and make some soup with the potatoes. "How do I do that?"

She washed the potatoes, and cut them into several mismatched pieces; then, finding a big, shiny pan she filled it with water and put the potatoes in it, carrying it all over the wood burning stove. Then she stared at it for minutes, thinking about how she would light the damn thing.

It was right at that moment that the front door opened, and Levi entered with his usual stoic face; he had a bag with him, and Syn looked at it with curiosity.

"What's that?" she wondered, seeing him put the bag over the table. He ignored her, coming closer to drink some water and see what she was doing.

"The fuck is that?" he asked, eyeing the pan full of several pieces of potato.

"I'm making a soup." Syn shrugged. "You don't have much to cook here, so I had to be creative."

"You call that being creative?" he looked with disgust at the potatoes, shaking his head. "And you need to light it if you want to cook,"

Syn rolled her eyes, annoyed that he thought she was so dumb that she didn't know that. "I know, but I have no idea where you put the matches."

He went around her, bumping on her shoulder in the process purposefully and taking a box of matches from the cabinet. He threw it in her direction, but since she wasn't expecting it the box hit her full on the face, falling to the ground after. Levi raised one eyebrow, obviously amused while Syn stared at him stupidly.

"That hurt!" she gritted her teeth, bending to take the box from the floor while Levi crossed his arms with a smirk on his face.

"When someone throws something at your face, you have to fucking dodge it, dumbass." He commented as if she didn't know that, and it irritated her to no ends. Gosh, he was so freaking annoying.

"I know that," she snapped, taking one match from the box and going to the stove. There were a bunch of wood there already, and she lit the match throwing it in the fire. The flame evidently went out, and Syn stared at the wood wondering what she did wrong.

Levi stared at it, too, but he didn't offer any help. Syn tried once again, and the same thing happened. Then she tried over and over until there were at least ten burned out matches lying uselessly on the wood.

"You're shitty at this," Levi pointed out, sounding bored as hell. Syn decided to ignore him and took another match, this time mentally praying to Sina that it would work.

She was going to do the same she did before had Levi not gotten annoyed by it and taken the match from her hands, lighting it and, with a piece of paper that he took from god knows where he lit the paper on fire and threw it on the wood. After a couple of minutes the wood started burning.

"Oh," Syn looked at it in complete awe, as if Levi had just performed some sort of magic right in front of her eyes.

"Tch, you don't even know how to light a fucking stove," Levi sighed, turning around and going in the bag's direction. Syn bit her lip, getting a bit flushed by her evident lack of abilities.

"The one I had was different," she lied straight through her teeth, and Levi sent her an annoyed look that told her he knew that was bullshit.

He opened the bag and took several things from it; there was some food – another piece of bread, some vegetables like potatoes, carrots and one that Syn didn't recognize, and a nice piece of bacon. He also took a box of what looked like tea leaves, and a couple of bottles of a dark drink – maybe it was wine? Syn wondered, getting excited with the prospect of having some. The last items he took from the bag were a bar of soup and a bottle full of white liquid.

"What's that?" she pointed to the bottle, coming forward and reaching for it. Levi slapped her hand again, the second time only that day, and she pouted holding her hand to her chest. "What was that for?"

"You're too fucking curious," he deadpanned.

"And you're too fucking rude!" she retorted, getting all flushed. "You don't need to hit me every time,"

He stared her for a moment before rolling his eyes. In the end, the told her what she wanted to know. "This is called detergent, something you use to clean things. Cleaning, in case you don't know, is when you take the dirt out of things."

"I know what it is," _asshole_ , she added mentally, frowning. "I already cleaned the house, by the way."

His interest was picked at this, and he looked around. "Eh? Did you, now?" he turned around and went to the small corridor, entering his bedroom first.

Seeing this, Syn went after him. "I didn't clean your bedroom because I didn't know if I could go in there or not," she informed him, watching as he saw his perfectly made bed, with sheets so white that it made it look like new; everything was well-kept and organized, there was nothing out of place there.

"Wow, you're really a clean freak," Syn didn't plan saying that, and as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it. Levi's gray eyes glared at her for a moment, and it made her feel as if he was staring straight at her soul; it was really unnerving. "I-I didn't want to say that."

"Tch," he closed the door, turning to go to the other room. "Fucking brat," Syn heard he mutter before opening the door to her room. She went straight after him.

"Hey, where do you think I can get a bed?" he looked at her over his shoulder, eyebrow raised. "You don't expect me to sleep on the floor forever, right?"

He didn't answer; after sweeping his eyes around the room, he closed the door. "You didn't clean the ceiling; there's dust there."

Syn's eyes went wide. "What? Is that really necessary?"

Levi looked at her as if she had just called him the worse name in the world. "Eh? Are you shitting me?"

She bit her lip, shifting on her feet uncomfortably. "I'll clean it," she answered coyly.

He went to all rooms, and in every single one he found something to complain about; the toilet in the bathroom wasn't properly clean, the corner of the walls in the living room still had dust, the top of the cabinets in the kitchen were as clean as "a horse ass,". In the end, Syn was all mopey because she had thought she had done a good job. After his inspection, he sat down and took a mug of tea, even though it was cold by now. Meanwhile, Syn stared at the potatoes, which were starting to boil.

"Did you mess up with the tea?" her back went stiff when she heard him, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up by the tone of his voice. He didn't sound happy.

"What?" she played dumb, turning and looking at him with the best straight face she managed to put up. "Of course not."

"Why is it fucking watery then?"

"Maybe because it's made with water?" she decided to be a smart ass, and that was a wrong movement on her part. He stood up and came up to her, getting so close she had to bend backwards so they wouldn't touch chests.

"Don't. Mess. With. My. Fucking. Tea." He said through gritted teeth, staring her down and making her legs shake slightly. His gray eyes were scary to look at; she knew that if looks could kill, she would be dead right at the spot. His eyebrow was creased, which made him look even more frightening.

Her heart started pounding loudly in her ribcage, and she recoiled, scared shitless of the man in front of her. She honestly thought he would do something bad to her; she didn't know him, but she did know he was a thug, and a dangerous one at that if he and Kenny were similar in any sense. She gulped and her lip quivered.

"I-I'm sorry," she hated herself for stammering, but she just couldn't put up on a brave face when he was that close to her and with that murder aura surrounding him.

Levi, seeing her frightened as a bird would be facing off a big animal, felt slightly bad. The girl was smaller than him and that meant she was really small, her body was thin, her arms, which were clad with only the fabric of her shirt, were as thin as sticks. If he were to do anything against her, she wouldn't have been able to stop him. She was weak, he could see, and got scared easily enough. Her blue eyes, clear as a morning sky, were innocent and too bright – she wasn't made for that world.

Sighing, he took a step backwards, feeling stupid for having threatened a powerless girl like that. Although he was a thug from the underground, and liked punching people's face around sometimes, he wasn't one to beat women or children, or people he considered too weak to be taken into consideration.

Syn sighed in relief when he turned around and went back to the table, silent and somber. He didn't finish the tea, but he took off his knife and started cleaning it with a handkerchief, like he had done the day before. Maybe that was a habit of his.

They didn't speak again after that, and the awkward silence in the house was palpable.

The next couple of days were pretty much similar; Levi and Syn would wake up almost at the same time, and while he would drink his precious tea, she would drink water and feel miserable with the smell coming from the tea-pot. Then, he would tell her he wanted the house spotless and go out somewhere Syn had no idea. She would spend the morning cleaning the house, scrubbing the floor with the detergent, cleaning all the spider webs and taking off dust from everywhere possible so Levi wouldn't have any reasons to complain. She cleaned everything so well that one day he even gave her a nod of appraisal, which made her feel so good about herself that she wanted to kick her own gut for being such a lap dog for his opinion.

Their living together was okay. They did argue quite often, about almost everything. The last thing was the terrible porridge Syn had cooked, which made Levi spit it out and wash his tongue afterwards. Syn wanted to kick his ass, but when she tasted the damn thing it truly was disgusting. She hadn't put any seasoning, so it was as flavorless as a sheet of paper. She did eat everything, though, just to despite him.

Besides that, they got along well. In fact, they almost didn't talk to each other, even if Syn tried to start a conversation Levi would always answer with a snark or just give yes or no answers, which didn't help in the dialogue. Eventually Syn would leave him alone, preferring to sing softly to herself one of the songs she used to sing in front of everyone. Oblivious to her, while cleaning his knife or reading a book, Levi listened to her singing. He would never tell her, of course, but he actually enjoyed the sound of her soft voice humming the melodies or singing the lyrics unknown to him.

[…]

Syn was tired of sleeping on the damn floor. That day, the tenth day since she had moved into Levi's house, she decided she would go on a shopping trip with or without Levi. She had asked the man to help her a couple of times, but he either told her to fuck off or simply said that he didn't have the time or disposition for it. So she patiently waited for him to warm up to her a bit, but since he wasn't having any progress in that regards, she decided to go alone. She still had all the money she had brought with her, which was a lot, and some of the jewelry as well. Levi never asked her for money, so she didn't need to spend it. However, the situation was critic, so she decided it was about time she did.

She needed so many things she made a list. A bed, sheets, a towel – she had been using her cloak for the whole time she was there -, hygiene items that she thought she really needed, a pillow, a wardrobe, maybe even some decoration for her room; she also decided to buy food, proper food, because she was tired of eating potatoes – baked potatoes, potato soup, roasted potato, potato bread -, hard bread and porridge. Also, she needed tea.

Waking up full of purpose, she put on a dress – she needed new clothes, too -, fixed her long hair in a bun and went to the living room. As usual, Levi was already there, drinking his tea in that weird way of his, and when he noticed her all dressed up, his eyebrows raised slightly.

He would never admit it out loud, but Syn was damn beautiful; it didn't matter if she was dressed in rags, all dirty, she still was able to be pretty. That annoyed him to no end, especially since she seemed to be a little vain. Like that moment, for instance, when she was dressed with a pretty fancy light blue dress with a white corset over it. She looked like a person coming from the capital, and that, in the underground, meant that she would be probably killed.

"I'm going into the town," she announced with a fierce look in her blue eyes. Levi watched her through his mug, not saying anything. "Is there anything you want for me to buy?"

Still, he didn't say anything. Sometimes he was like that, silent, unnerving, and Syn hated when he did that. She preferred his snarky comments to the complete silence. Sighing, she went over the sink to take some water, as usual.

"Are you going dressed like that?" he finally said something, and Syn looked down on her body, seeing the blue dress she was wearing; she didn't know what was wrong with it.

"What's wrong?"

"You're asking to be robbed," she frowned, not understanding.

"Why?"

"Tch," he turned to look at her, his stoic mask in place. "You look like you don't belong." _Far too pretty for this place_ , he added mentally.

"This is the simplest dress I have," she retorted, shaking her head. "I'm not changing."

"Whatever, brat." Grumpy ass Levi came back, and he returned to read the paper. "Just don't come crying when you come back naked,"

She flushed all over, swallowing the water to calm down her nerves. He was such an asshole; if he could just go with her so nothing bad would happen, but no, he had to be a jerk.

"Well, can you at least tell me where I can go to buy a bed?"

"Downtown," he said, not bothering to elaborate. Groaning, Syn gave up on getting more out of Levi.

"Whatever," she bit, going towards the door. "I'll be back later," she told him without turning, and then she left the house for the first time after seven days.

She wouldn't admit it, but just stepping outside made her feel terribly unguarded. It was as if someone would jump on her out of the blue and take all of her belongings – she had taken only part of her money, so if someone actually robbed her, she wouldn't be penniless. Taking in a deep breath, she put on a brave face and climbed down the stairs, determined to do what she had planned for the day.

The underground was a goddamn labyrinth; after thirty minutes walking, Syn had already lost herself in the crowd, and she had no idea where she should go. She remembered the map the lady had drawn to her on her first day there, and regretted not bringing it with her so she would find her way back. Now she didn't know where the hell she was, or how to go back. Desperation started to get into her, but she took a deep breath to try and remain calm. If she freaked out at that moment, it wouldn't help her.

The streets were crawling with people, and everyone seemed to her as a suspicious person; even the kids, whom were running around made her nervous. She tried to find downtown, but it was too damn difficult. Sighing, she decided to ask someone for help. Who?

She eyed the mass of people, trying to find one kind face that would help her. She couldn't, and eventually gave up on that and approached an old woman with gray hair and a wrinkled face.

"Excuse me, ma'am," she called, and the woman looked at her as if she was crazy for just talking to her. "How can I get downtown?"

"What?" the lady repeated, putting one hand over her ear and turning her head.

"How can I get downtown?" she repeated louder this time, and the old woman frowned.

"Capital? You're far away from the capital, miss," she answered, starting to walk again. Syn frowned, going after her one more time.

"No, downtown. Downtown!" she tried again, louder. People looked at her with strangeness, but she decided to ignore.

"I don't know where's Capetown. Leave me alone!"

Syn gave up, wanting to cry; she watched the old lady enter the crowd and disappear while she stood there, not knowing where to go.

"Hey, I heard you want to go downtown," she was startled when a young man appeared out of the blue in front of her. She looked up, eyeing him critically. He had dirty blond hair, cut in a fluid way, and light blue eyes; he was quite handsome, she thought, especially when he smiled.

"Yes, can you help me?" she asked hopefully, and his smiled opened up even more.

"Of course! Follow me,"

Syn had zero clue of how bad that idea was, so she followed him like he had asked.

"You aren't from here, are ya?" he asked, eyeing her without losing the smile. Syn bit her lip, unsure if she should tell him the truth or not.

"No, I've been living here for a couple of days, only."

"Oh yea?" his blue eyes sparkled in mischief, but Syn didn't notice. "Why did you move?"

"Personal matters," she answered, not wanting to delve into it with a stranger.

"I see. I was born and raised here," he commented. "Know the place with the back of my hand."

"That's good for you," she sighed, shaking her head. "I'm clueless,"

"I can see that," he chuckled, eyeing her with more intensity. The girl was really a sight to behold, and obviously stood out with her light complexity and heart shaped face. The dress, though, was what drew him in. "So, where're you living?"

Syn rolled her eyes, being completely manipulated with the easy going behavior of the guy. "With this grumpy guy."

"Ah," he nodded, raising his eyebrows. "Boyfriend?"

Syn's face flushed all over with only the thought of Levi being her boyfriend. "No, no. He's…a friend."

"I see." They walked a bit more in silence, with the guy guiding her through the crowd, and Syn not exactly knowing where they were going to but following anyway. She liked the guy, he seemed nice. "What's your name?" he asked after some time in silence.

"Syn. And yours?"

"I'm Farlan Church," he grinned, and that made his eyes shine even more. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he took her hand and gave her a kiss, which made Syn flush all over again.

"Likewise," she answered, still red in the face. She cleaned her throat, taking her eyes off of him. "Is it far?" she decided to ask, more to change subject than to really know.

"No, we're almost there."

"Good. I really need to buy some things."

They continued to chat lightly about nothing really important, until they reached a dark alley and Farlan's whole demeanor changed. Up to that point, Syn had not realized the true intentions behind his actions; after all it was completely acceptable for her that a nice guy like him would offer to help her. It all changed when she realized that they were in a very desert place, far away from all the noise and movement from the city. She looked at Farlan, seeing the same smile on his face, though it didn't reach his eyes anymore. Looking over her shoulder, she saw two figures approaching, and that made her heart leap in her chest.

 _Goddamn it_ , she thought, kicking herself for being so stupid and following a complete stranger like that. What was wrong with her?

In front of her, two other people appeared, a man and a woman, and she was circled.

"Er, are we far?" she asked, looking at Farlan with frightened eyes. His blue eyes looked back at her, and his smile was lost.

"Sorry."

Her heart was beating wildly at that moment, and she stumbled backwards, but that was no use.

"A-about what?" she stammered, eyeing each of the people getting closer to her.

"You know,"

"Just take her money already," one of the girls yelled, and Syn's eyes got wide as saucers.

"W-what?"

Farlan came closer to her, extending his hand as he had done before; this time, though, he didn't want her hand. He wanted more.

"Give us what you have and we'll leave you alone," he told her, serious. "You don't need to get hurt."

"B-but," she started, gulping and feeling really dumb. "I d-don't have much,"

"It doesn't matter. Just give whatever you have."

With shaky fingers, she reached inside her dress, where she had put the bag of money she had brought with her and handed it to the blond in front of her.

"Thanks, darling." He smiled, getting light humored again. "And sorry for doing that. You're nice person,"

She wanted to cry, but she held back the tears; her lip, though, started quivering. Farlan frowned at that, feeling slightly bad for robbing such a small and innocent looking girl.

"Aww, she is about to cry," someone laughed at her, and that made everything worse. She closed her fists, trying hard not to show any emotion.

She thought back of Levi and his stoic face; he certainly wouldn't show how affected he was if he was in her position. Hell, he would probably kick their asses. Gosh, she wished he was there at that moment.

"Let's go," Farlan said, turning to leave with his gang.

Something, or rather someone stopped him of doing that, though. For her relief, and utter adoration, on the other side of the alley, in the opposite direction to where Farlan was turning to, Levi was standing, his face as blank as a white canvas; as soon as he appeared, all of the people, including Farlan, took off their knifes and other weapons, getting ready to fight. Syn, however, stood there, looking at Levi as if he was god himself.

 _Oh, Sina, thanks! Thanks so much!_ She thought, turning and running in his direction.

She stood behind him, almost hiding while he glared at the group of thugs in front of him.

"I-It's Levi," someone from the group stammered, looking frightened as hell. Farlan, who had been pretty cool up to that moment, looked as if he had seen a ghost.

"You again?" Levi asked, sounding as if that was the most boring situation he had ever been in. Farlan cracked a smile that didn't reach his eyes, passing a hand through his neck.

"Oh, Levi, it's nice seeing you again." He said, sounding the complete opposite. He was nervous, Syn noticed, and that made her feel slightly pleased.

 _Serves you right_ , she thought, frowning.

"Give back the money you took," Levi ordered, and a collection of gasps was heard.

"B-but that's our territory," one of the men said, and Farlan sent him a warning look over his shoulder.

"I didn't know you were…acquainted with the girl." The blond returned to speak, and took the bag of money he had just stolen, throwing it towards Levi, who took it without shifting a single muscle.

Syn was relieved that her money was saved, and glared at Farlan.

"Did they hurt you?" Levi asked Syn, still glaring at Farlan with a murderous aura surrounding him. Seeing the desperation in Farlan's eyes and not really liking the idea of him being killed by Levi over a bag of money, she shook her head.

"No, I'm okay." She got closer to him and grabbed the back of his shirt. "We can go now,"

It took Levi a moment to shift from his threatening position, but eventually he did, turning around and walking away with Syn hanging as close to him as possible.

"W-we are sorry!" she heard Farlan yell at her, and she did the least expected in that situation of a girl her age - she showed him her tongue, before quickly turning back. They didn't look back.

"Thanks so much for helping me," Syn told her silent companion after a moment walking in silence. She stopped in her tracks, biting her lip and flushing a bit. "It was really stupid of me following him,"

Levi didn't say anything, and continued walking despite the fact she had stopped. Realizing he wasn't going to answer, she ran to catch up with him again.

"It's just that he was so kind to me," she continued her excuse, shaking her head. "I should've known something like that was going to happen. I'm so stupid,"

"Yea, you are," Levi opened his mouth for the first time, sending her a bored look over his shoulder. "You're not in the capital anymore; you'd better get used to it."

"I know," she agreed, feeling embarrassed for her stupidity. "Anyway, how did you know I was there?" she shifted the subject, slightly flushed on her face.

He didn't answer right away, but she saw the slightly tint of red on his cheeks – it was barely there, but she noticed and bit her lip to stop from smiling. He had followed her, maybe worried that she would get lost or that someone would do something to her; that thought warmed her heart in a way that she couldn't explain. Levi was a good person, she realized. He had no obligation whatsoever with her, yet he helped her over and over again. She felt bad for having argued with him so frequently, or for having called him names when he did something that bothered her. She should apologize and never do that again.

"I was doing a job when I heard your voice," he said, but it wasn't convincing in the slightest. Syn smiled, feeling blood coming to her cheeks and her heart warm even more.

"Thanks, then. You're a life savior," she got closer to him and, out of the blue kissed his cheek. It was a thank you kiss, the one she gave her father or a friend when they helped her, but Levi wasn't either; he obviously wasn't her parent, and she wasn't sure they were exactly friends, so the kiss ended up leaving an awkward air around them.

Levi stared at her, and then he took his handkerchief and cleaned his face. "That's fucking disgusting," he spat, but again his face was slightly flushed.

Syn rolled her eyes, giving him one of her big, genuine smiles. "Don't be such an ass," she told him, pushing his shoulder. In turn, he pushed her, and she stumbled on her feet and almost fell on her face, much to his amusement. "Levi!"

After that, they bantered a bit more, and the atmosphere around them shifted again to a more pleasing one. It wasn't awkward has it had been in the couple of days they had been living together; it wasn't exactly friendly either, but it was light and amicable. Levi ended up going with her downtown and helped her pick up her bed, her sheets and everything else she wanted to buy, which was a lot.

She was slightly crazy over the notion of buying her own things, another thing she had never done before, and the prices of the products were so low that she could buy a bunch of stuff using only a few golden coins.

[…]

They were at a clothing store, and Levi was sitting on a bench while Syn tried on a few pieces of clothing. They had already bought almost everything she needed, until they – or rather she - decided to go to an old, dusty store that sold articles of clothing and accessories. There weren't many beautiful dresses, as Syn realized after a moment, but she liked some of them. The majority were pretty simple, dull colored dresses, different from the ones she was used to wear in the capital. There were a few colored, but their design didn't appeal much to her.

"What do you think?" she got out from the fitting room, showing of the tenth dress she was trying on; it was a white, fluid dress that went all the way down her legs up to her calves, and it was tight around the waist, showing a bit of her curves there. The sleeves fell off to her shoulders, showing off a bit of the skin from her bust. There was a dark vest that went over it, too. She turned around, looking behind her and then back to Levi.

The dark haired man was reading the paper, not even paying attention to her.

"Levi!" she called him, frowning. He looked up, his eyes wandering up and down her body before he nodded. "Do you like it?" she asked, biting her lip, suddenly feeling shy and unsure.

"Oh, it's really beautiful on you!" the one to answer was the woman selling the dress, a small lady that was probably on her fifties already, and Syn smiled at her.

"Really?" she turned around once again, admiring herself in the old mirror.

"Yes, you have a really nice body, miss. I bet your boyfriend agrees with me," she turned to Levi with suggesting eyes, making Syn blush from embarrassment. Levi remained emotionless, not even glancing up.

"We are not…you know," Syn retorted sheepishly, and then changed the subject. "I like it; you can wrap it up together with the others."

"Ok, dear." The woman was pretty happy she was going to make a bunch of money that day.

Syn wandered off around the store, looking for more clothing that would fit her; amongst her looking, she found a really nice white cravat, and that remembered her of the men who lived in the capital and wore them.

A sudden nostalgia came into her when she remembered her old life, and she couldn't even believe she was in the underground shopping with a man with whom she was living. If her mother knew that she probably turn in grave, she thought darkly. Still holding the cravat, she decided she would buy it for Levi, as a thank you gift. Happy with her choice, she went back to the room.

At the end, she bought seven new dresses, three pair of pants, five shirts, a pair of new boots, and a pair of earrings she really liked besides them being fake silver, and the cravat for Levi. They left to go to the market where they would buy food.

"Okay, I'm really tired of eating potatoes, so how about we buy some other vegetables?" she told him, thinking about all the delicious dishes that could come out of some beets, and onions.

Levi sighed, already tired of going around the city for most of the morning, especially with a chit-chatting Syn besides him.

"Are you annoyed?" she asked, looking back at him with that silly smile on her face.

"You're damn noisy," he answered, but she wasn't offended. She actually laughed a full laugh, which made the dark haired man look at her with his eyebrow raised.

"You're so irritable," she told him after she stopped laughing. "I like talking, and you're the only person around that I can do it so bear with me."

"I'll put my foot up your mouth if you annoy me too much," she rolled her eyes, not being slightly threatened.

"If you do that, I'll put a rotten egg under your pillow." He looked at her with disgust, which made her chuckle. "I bet you'll burst into flames if I do that."

"Try it and you'll see what happens,"

They entered the market, which wasn't as full as Syn had thought, and started their hunt for food. There wasn't a big variety of products, being as they depended on the shippers from the capital to have proper food, but it was enough for Syn. She bought everything she wanted, and Levi chose some things he wanted as well, and they ended up with another bag full of vegetables and other kinds of food. That was the last shopping trip they were going to do, so soon they returned home.

Syn was really happy and satisfied about her day. Despite the fact that she almost got robbed, if it weren't for Levi, she had finally bought a bed and other clothes so she wouldn't have to keep using the same ones every day. Also, she got to spend a little more time with Levi, which, surprisingly enough, wasn't bad at all.

He wasn't the most pleasant company to be around, he almost didn't speak, and when he did, it was either to swear or to snap at her; however, the fact that he went all the way with her so she wouldn't go alone spoke volumes to her, and she felt respect for him that she hadn't felt before. She was beginning to understand how he worked, and she realized he wasn't a bad person, quite the opposite. He was just… _rough_. That was the perfect description. He had lived a hard life down there, and had to struggle so that made him into who he was. However, it didn't mean he had a bad heart.

He had helped her when she didn't have anywhere else to go; and he had helped her when she had been stupid and reckless. Now, it was her turn to reciprocate what he had done for her. Syn decided, right there, that she would be nice to Levi. Even if he pestered her to no ends; even if he annoyed her with his cleaning habits, or the way he was rude sometimes; she would bear with it, and learn how to live with his way. And maybe, in the future, they would have a nice relationship.

She looked forward to that.


End file.
